The Briefest Kidnapping
by TweakerWolf
Summary: Peter and Stiles get locked in a room together and get on each others' nerves. Thankfully it doesn't take Scott and the others long to find them!


Secret Santa gift for KatTheGracefulKlutz! I tried to focus on the whole kidnapped person thing mixed with two people being locked up together and not getting along while also keeping it family friendly. I hope you enjoy it!

This fic is Canon Divergent (Canon Compliant up until 3x05). The fight in the abandoned mall takes place but instead of the boys going to a cross country meet, they are at home. That allowed me to have Peter and Stiles together while also incorporating Canon events to explain why the two of them would be together in the first place. The build up took longer than I thought XD I wasn't expecting the story to be this long, whoops!

* * *

Peter sighed and looked at his niece, "Do you really think they would've taken him?"

Cora ignored him, brow furrowed in concentration. She was trying to follow the bloody tracks on the floor but it was hard; her nails dug into the palms of her hands as she held in a snarl of frustration. There were so many confusing marks on the ground! The tracks had been smeared as people had walked through them, probably when the Alphas had dragged Ennis off. It almost seemed like Derek had been moving of his own accord but she couldn't imagine that he'd gotten far… especially with the other Alpha roaming around. It made sense that Deucalion would've found him; the tracks would've been pretty fresh when they came through. Derek was his original target, he wanted something from him- why else would he have kidnapped his Betas?! They'd been locked up for so long… somehow Isaac had escaped and then Derek had found her! But Deucalion wasn't done, that was just the start of his plan. What she couldn't understand was why Peter was arguing the point with her, he knew the same facts she did. Derek would've been all alone, severely injured; it was the best chance Deucalion would have for taking him. She was still concentrating when she heard Peter huff and repeat his question, he obviously wasn't going to let it drop. "Yes I think they took him!" she finally snapped, spinning around to face him. "Where else would he be?"

"It's been quite a few hours and we have no idea when Deucalion came back to get Ennis. Derek could've been long gone by then."

"Do you really think Deucalion would've missed these tracks on the floor?"

Peter just shrugged, "Well, I think he would've been pretty focused on his underling, Ennis was injured too after all. Pretty seriously by the sound of it- Scott thinks they're both dead."

"Well we know Derek's not dead!" Cora flashed her eyes at him, "Don't tell me you've forgotten how to use a pack bond? If Derek were dead, we'd feel it! Scott isn't pack, he doesn't know what he's talking about. Besides, these tracks prove that he isn't!"

"All they prove is that he didn't die instantly. But you're right, I know Derek is still alive but he's not in good condition. But I still don't think that Deucalion has him." Peter knew Derek wasn't the most capable Alpha but he was still a Hale. And he was more stubborn than a mule. He had faith that Derek did in fact manage to crawl into a hiding space before Deucalion came back to look for him. Then when they found out that Ennis was still alive, Kali would've pushed to get him help- it wasn't like Derek was going to leave town. No, Ennis would've been the priority at the time. The trouble was that Deaton hadn't seen him… so where else would Derek have gone to heal if not to the clinic? He wasn't stupid enough to go back to the house or the loft (although Peter had checked, just in case). And he wasn't still in the abandoned mall. So he'd gotten out and went where?

"You really think that Derek managed to escape Deucalion in such a poor condition?"

"Just because you were stupid enough to get caught doesn't mean Derek doesn't know how to handle himself." The effect of his comment was immediate and he smirked as Cora spun and stomped off- he'd hit a nerve. But it ended the argument for the moment. Derek had made some poor choices in the past but his guilt kept him alive. He wouldn't ever let himself die until he felt like he'd fully repented for the all the deaths. No, he hadn't been caught by Deucalion, not this time. Besides, if he had, Deucalion would've immediately moved onto the next phase of the attack, not go quiet. They would know because he would've taunted them.

Cora couldn't believe his comment… who did he think he was? She hadn't been expecting to be attacked so callously on her way back to Beacon Hills, nor had she expected anyone to know her real identity. How had they even known she'd be coming home? They had never told her and she had learned to stop asking. It hadn't taken her long to learn who the other werewolves were that they had thrown in the vault with her. They were a part of the new Hale pack, her brother's sorry recruits. It became obvious that Deucalion was obsessed with Derek but none of them could figure out why. And now that he had been seriously hurt and unable to defend himself, it made perfect sense that the crazy Alpha would've jumped on the opportunity. They had to figure out what he had planned for Derek before it was too late. "Will you hurry up? We have to figure out where they took him."

The older wolf rolled his eyes before quickening his pace to catch up with her. He knew that he'd irked her but he wasn't expecting her to be so grumpy about it. So she'd been locked up for a few months, big deal. He'd been set on fire- twice! And he'd been killed by his own nephew, so if anyone had reason to be grumpy, it was him. Not that he expected any sympathy from her, she'd already made her feelings known about Laura's death and she had always been closer to Derek than anyone else. She's actually laughed when she had first heard that Derek had killed him and stolen the Alpha power from him. That didn't bother him as much as her lack of awe at his resurrection… although with how much she harped on Derek and his leadership abilities, Peter figured she was just cynical about everything. And she had the same stubborn streak as Derek so he knew that was no way he could convince her that she was wrong about Derek's whereabouts. What mattered was that they both agreed that he was alive and needed help, so he'd just focus on that part and let her think what she wanted. He kept his comments to himself until they were both back in the car, finally saying, "We need to go see Scott."

"Why? What's wonder-boy going to be able to do? He's not even in the pack! He thinks Derek is dead, he's not going to help us."

"No, Scott's not in the pack but he's strong and Derek seems to respect him. He isn't as stupid as he seems, he managed to trick Gerard while the rest of us were dealing with the Kanima. As annoying as he is, he does have some merit. And he's against Deucalion and his Alpha pack so that makes him our ally. We're going to need his help, so obviously we'll convince him that Derek isn't dead and go from there." Cora scowled again but didn't argue further so Peter figured she was willing to go along with it. Probably the best he could hope for at that point. So he started the car and drove off, heading for the most likely place to find the teenagers. He was fairly certain that Scott would be willing to help, for Derek's sake. And Stiles seemed to have a soft spot for Cora so that would help, as long as she didn't insult them all. Maybe, just maybe, they'd be able to find him and actually come up with a plan to fight Deucalion too.

*McCall House*

Peter pulled to a stop right outside the house, not bothering with any stealth. "Come on, let's go see what he's up to," he told Cora as he turned off the car and stepped out. He didn't wait for her though, quickly jogging up to the front door and knocking loudly. "Scott, open up."

"What the hell is he doing here?" a voice whispered from inside somewhere.

"You know I can hear you Allison."

Cora chuckled to herself as she came up to the door, "Sounds like they enjoy your company about as much as I do."

"Oh hush, now isn't the time, do you want to find Derek or not?!" He was about to start knocking again when the door finally cracked open and Stiles's face appeared.

"No one told you…?" Stiles chewed on his lip, how hadn't he heard the news? "Derek's… dead. Y'know, there was that big fight in the abandoned mall that I heard you were absent from. He didn't make it."

"He's not dead, now open up before I kick the door in," Cora growled, stepping into his line of sight. When she saw him jump in surprise she realized that she might've been a little harsh. He probably didn't deserve the attitude but she couldn't stand to hear him say that Derek was gone. She knew that they didn't have a bond with him but they still should've tried to double check instead of just assuming the worst! She pushed her way inside as Stiles moved out of her way.

"What do you mean Derek isn't dead? Isaac said that he fell like three stories and he wasn't moving when they looked at him." Stiles was surprised to see her, he figured that she would've left town the minute she realized he was gone. The Alphas were dangerous and without her brother around, there was nothing keeping her in Beacon Hills. Although, they could really use her help so he was glad to see her. And if she was right about Derek then they had an even better chance!

Peter glanced at the teenager, "She means that he's alive."

"I know what not dead me-"

"His body is gone from the escalator, Ennis's too. And we know he's not dead because we can still feel our pack bond with him. Boyd and Isaac should be able to feel it too but since they're still new at this, I'm not surprised they didn't realize it. Peter says that we need Scott's help to find him, but I already have an idea of where to look." She was eager to get moving and she didn't want to waste time with Peter's attitude, Stiles was hard enough to keep focused as it was.

It took him a minute to absorb the information, the bodies were gone… and she seemed very sure that Derek was alive and not just buried somewhere. "That's great news! But…"

"But what?"

"Scott's not… doing well… His wounds aren't healing."

"Is he a werewolf or not?" Cora scoffed.

"Now, now Cora, don't be insensitive. He's only a Beta… well not even, he doesn't exactly have an Alpha so he's kind of like an Omega," Peter reminded her. He knew better than to say that he didn't have a pack- Stiles would yell at him if he said that, he felt like he counted as a packmate. He heard her huff and when he looked over at her, he realized that she really didn't care. She'd been in the fight too and was fine now, or she was acting fine. Peter noticed the stiff way she was holding her head, that she turned her whole body and never just her head. But she wasn't letting it stop her from looking for Derek though and so she had no sympathy for the others.

"No, seriously, something's wrong… he isn't healing _at all_ ," Stiles confided, glancing upstairs. "I know Alpha wounds take longer to heal but, if anything, he's gotten worse."

Peter frowned and pushed past Stiles, heading up to the upper floor. He found the boy on the floor of the bathroom with Allison standing over him protectively, like he was going to attack or something. "What's going on?"

She chewed on her lip for a long moment before finally moving aside so he could inspect Scott. "The wound isn't healing at all and it almost looks like it's infected or something. He's still bleeding! He's never taken this long to heal before…"

"That is a bad sign," Peter agreed, lifting the boy's shirt up. "Why haven't you gone to Deaton? I don't think any of them would use something like poison but this is more than just an Alpha wound. He definitely should've been in better condition than this by now."

Scott shook his head, "No, no, I'm fine. I don't need to bother Deaton."

Peter hung his head, Scott was too nice for his own good. He was looking like death and he was worried about inconveniencing the vet? He was surprised that Allison was letting him call the shots at that point. Between her and Stiles, the two of them could easily get Scott into a car whether he wanted to go or not. It wasn't like he'd hurt them. But he didn't have time to care about Scott's problem, if he didn't want to get help then that was his choice.

"So much for the boy wonder," Cora mumbled from the doorway of the bathroom. She'd heard Peter's comments and was curious to see just how bad it actually was. And he was a mess, clearly unable to help them like Peter had been hoping. Which meant that the huntress was also unavailable; Cora knew she wasn't going to leave his side. Not that she cared for Allison's help, she was an Argent after all. But she had shown up during the fight for some reason and she would've been another pair of eyes looking for Derek. "Looks like we're on our own after all. We should go, we don't need to waste any more time."

"Did you need my help with some-" Scott cut himself off as he gasped in pain. He'd been trying to stand but the pain was too much and he collapsed again.

Cora shook her head, "Not in that condition we don't."

Peter had to agree, he'd be more of a problem than any help. He brightened, remembering that Scott wasn't their only option- how could he have forgotten?! "Where's Isaac? Didn't he come crash with you after Derek kicked him out? We should find Boyd too, after all they're really the ones that should be helping us with this." Derek was their Alpha, they definitely needed to be helping.

It was Allison's turn to sigh and shake her head, "They aren't here. Boyd came to check on Scott and then he started talking about getting even. Isaac agreed, he wanted the twins to pay for what they've done. Stiles and I couldn't stop them, they weren't even listening to Scott. We have no idea where they are but we can't just leave Scott and go looking for them… Stiles called his dad but he couldn't tell him the whole truth. We really aren't sure what to do, everything's just a mess."

"Yea, you got that right…"

Peter groaned to himself and stepped back into the hallway, turning to Cora, "Alright, it looks like it's just us then… let's go."

"Wait, what exactly do you need help with? Can it wait? We could use your help here…" Allison looked up at them, unable to believe that she was asking Peter of all people for help.

"No, it really can't. We'll keep our eyes peeled for the others but Derek needs us a little more right now." Cora waved her hand dismissively and went for the stairs.

Scott sat up again, calling out as loud as he could to get her attention, "Derek?"

She sighed, were his ears damaged too? Had he not heard what they told Stiles just a moment ago? "I know you seem to think that Derek is dead but he's not. He's been taken by Deucalion and we need to save him before they kill him for sure."

"How do you know he's not dead? He wasn't moving, Isaac and I both saw it."

"You've already forgotten how it was to be my Beta? I know you didn't like it, and I wasn't really there to explain things but you do remember the bond we had, right?" Peter prompted. He chuckled as Scott grimaced but nodded his head- he remembered. "Derek isn't your Alpha so you don't know but Cora and I are both in his Pack and we feel that bond. If he was dead, we'd feel it. But he is in trouble, he was gravely injured and he's alone right now, vulnerable."

Scott slowly climbed to his feet, leaning on Allison for support. "You're certain?"

"Yes! Did you miss the part where this is wasting time? Are you going to help us or not?"

"He can barely stand-" Allison started to say but then stopped as she looked at Scott. She wasn't sure but he seemed to be stronger? Just like that, he wasn't leaning on her, only holding onto the counter to keep himself steady.

"If Derek is alive, then of course I'll help you look for him. And we have to get word to Isaac and Boyd. I know they're pissed but if we tell them that Derek isn't dead, maybe they'll finally listen to reason and calm down. They can't take on the Alphas alone, not even just the twins, it's too risky. Just… just give me a second," Scott told her, slowly making his way to the stairs.

Stiles's eyes widened as he saw Scott standing on his own- an improvement! But he was still holding his side and grimacing in pain, so he wasn't actually healed. "Dude, just a minute ago you were wailing about how it was all your fault and that you deserved the pain… now you're standing."

"Well, a minute ago, I thought Derek was dead and there was nothing I could do to help him, now I know better. So of course that means we have to get our butts out there and start looking."

Peter narrowed his eyes as he watched Scott slowly descend the stairs, Stiles and Allison right by his side. He was weak and in pain but Peter could already tell that the bleeding was less severe. How interesting.

"How exactly do you think you're going to be able to help us in that condition?" Cora asked.

Scott smiled at her, hoping it didn't look too much like a grimace, "I'll be fine, the wound hasn't killed me yet, it'll heal eventually. Do we have any idea where Derek might be?"

Cora nodded, "I was going to go back to the bank, where they'd kept me for months and-"

"Cora," Peter interrupted, "Do you really think Deucalion and the others would be dumb enough to take him there?"

"The Alphas spent a lot of time there in the months we were locked up, why would they go through the trouble of finding another base? It's not like they're scared of us, they wouldn't have any reason to move. Plus it's very secure."

Peter shook his head, "I'm still not even convinced that they have him."

"Well then, you go off and search wherever you want to search but I'm going to the bank." Cora pushed past Stiles and strode towards the front door, ready to go.

"Cora, wait, I'll go with you," Scott said, hoping she'd actually stop. "You shouldn't be going alone. Stiles shouldn't be the one going with you into their potential lair since he's just Human; if Peter doesn't agree with you, there's no reason in making the two of you pair up… and out of the two of us, I think you like Allison less than you like me soooo that means I'll go with you to the bank."

She sighed but eventually nodded her head, "Alright, fine, you can come with me. But I'm not going to baby you, if you can't keep up, that's on you, not me. Peter, give me your keys, Scott obviously won't be able to run there."

"I don't want his blood all over my car!"

Stiles gasped, "No one ever cares about getting blood in my jeep!"

"There's a solution! Why don't the three of you go in Stiles's jeep?"

"I don't want Stiles going to the bank, not if there's a chance that the Alphas are there."

That was all it took for the group to start arguing, questioning who was going where and how to get there. Peter let them argue, using the time to figure it all out in his head. He didn't mind Cora driving his car, and out of the three other teenagers, Scott was the best person to accompany her (the odds of the Alphas still being there were low but he still didn't want her going alone). He just didn't want a messy car… Then there was Stiles and Allison to decide on. Since they were both Human, even if she was a Hunter, he figured it wouldn't be smart to keep them together, which meant he'd have to be partnered with one of them. Something he really wasn't looking forward to. At all. Of the two, he knew Allison would be way too awkward, she hated him whereas Stiles was just… Stiles. Once he came to that conclusion, he went back into the bathroom and grabbed the medkit as well as a new shirt. When he came back into the entryway he loudly spoke over everyone, "Alright, here's what we're doing, listen up!" As they all turned to listen, Peter couldn't help but feel satisfaction that they were responding to his authority. "Cora and Scott will go to the bank, they'll take my car- but! Scott is putting a bandage on as well as changing his shirt. I'll go with Stiles in his Jeep to search in the warehouse district. And I think Allison should actually work on finding Isaac and Boyd. We need to find them before they find the twins and get themselves killed. I figure you might be able to get your dad to help… or maybe Lydia, we should keep an eye on her too."

Scott barely caught the shirt as it was thrown at him, Peter wasn't messing around. But neither was Cora, she was more than ready to go and was impatiently waiting for Allison to bandage his wound. She was going to wait though because Scott also wanted to establish some ground rules first. "Everyone is going to be super careful. We have to hurry because Derek is going to need help but we can't walk into any traps. Communication is key, I expect everyone to be texting updates regularly. Derek is the priority, so if you see the Alphas and no sign of Derek, get out of there. There's no reason to alert them to your presence, with Ennis also seriously injured, if even alive, they'll be out for blood."

Stiles quickly checked his phone, sighing in relief when he saw it was still at 85% power. He immediately started a new group chat, finding everyone's numbers and added them into the conversation. "Everyone good, just sent out a test message." There was a chorus of 'yeas' as they all checked their own phones and then they were good to go.

"Alright, is your jeep going to survive the drive?" Peter asked as he tossed Cora his own keys. He didn't have a lot of faith in the jeep, or the teenager driving it but he was committed to the journey now.

"Dude, don't hate on the jeep or you can walk. Now, where exactly are we going? The warehouse district isn't huge but there are still a few blocks to go through."

Peter pulled up his GPS as soon as he got into the jeep and consulted the map for a moment, walking Stiles through his thought process. "Derek would've gotten out before Deucalion came back, I'm sure of it, even if Cora is in denial. And he wouldn't have gone back to the loft, A: he's not that dumb, and B: I already checked. But he would've wanted a safe space to crawl into to hide while he tried to heal. We weren't _that_ far from the loft, all things considered, so it's an area that he'd be familiar with. I know I just said that Derek isn't dumb but I'm fairly certain he would've subconsciously headed in the same direction of the loft from the mall. His trail showed him crawling to the south exit of the building."

Stiles nodded, following along. "I think we can ignore the immediate buildings- even in a weakened condition, he would've wanted to give himself as much space from Ennis as possible. If he was strong enough to crawl out of the building, he's stubborn enough to keep crawling at least a full building away. Are you thinking that one here?" he asked, pointing to one street corner on Peter's phone.

"No, we can skip that one too, that building is actually in use if I remember correctly. We can drive by just to make sure. If it seems empty them I'll get out and do a quick scout to see if I can find any signs of him. The rest we'll play by ear depending on what signs we find."

"Alright, sounds good, send out a text to let the others know."

Peter rolled his eyes but he knew if he didn't do it, Stiles would and Peter did not want him to be distracted. So he opened his text and pinged their first planned location into the group chat for the others. Then he was forced to update Stiles about what the others were doing since he could feel his phone go off in his pocket but he didn't have time to dig it out. It was going to be a loooooong afternoon.

*Warehouse District*

Stiles slowed the jeep to a crawl as Peter leaned out the open window. He knew werewolf hearing was great but he was still worried that the clunking from his engine would distract him and he'd miss an important hint of Derek's whereabouts.

"Stiles, control your breathing, that's more distracting than the mystery rattle coming from your air vents. Why are you getting so worked up all of a sudden?" Peter asked.

"I just… Derek's survived a lot already but judging by what I heard Scott and Isaac say, his chances seem kinda slim. We aren't friends or anything, don't get me wrong! But… I dunno, it's Derek. I'm not sure how we'd get by without him."

"Well, if he had really died this time then you'd also be losing Scott."

Stiles braked to a hard stop, glaring at Peter, "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Calm down, that wasn't a threat or anything, just an observation. I've been thinking about his wound and Allison's been checking up on him the whole time so I've been kept apprised of his health. The bleeding has stopped and the pain has lessened. No signs of healing though but at least he isn't bleeding all over my car. The Alphas shouldn't be at the bank so I doubt they'll get into a fight. Cora's too hotheaded to handle the situation calmly and Scott is injured so they'd be dead in a heartbeat. That's really the only reason why I'm letting her go to the bank."

"You have a theory on why he wasn't healing."

Peter smirked to himself as he realized it wasn't phrased as a question- Stiles wasn't his friend but they knew each other well enough. They both knew how analytical the other could be. "Scott was feeling guilty about Derek's supposed death. He was subconsciously letting the wound fester because he felt like it was his punishment. Now that he knows Derek isn't dead…"

"Okay, but, how come he hasn't completely healed then?" Stiles asked, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. His mind was racing- of course Scott had been feeling guilty, why hadn't they thought of that?! Scott always took things to heart and while Derek wasn't exactly a friend, he was an ally. He answered his own question before Peter could open his mouth, realizing the truth. "He hasn't healed because he has doubts about Derek. Right now he's alive, I'm sure he believes you and Cora but that doesn't mean he's not still close to death. So a part of him is still holding back, just in case."

"Exactly. Derek's managed to escape the mall but he's not out of the woods yet."

"Which means Scott isn't either."

Peter waved Stiles forward, choosing to ignore his last comment- of course Stiles was more worried about Scott than about Derek. "This warehouse if full of people, I can hear them, even see a few cars parked around the back. Let's go a block over and start there."

Stiles did as he was told, even parking in the spot he was pointed to. "We're starting here then? Any word from the others?"

"You aren't driving now, do you really need me to read the messages for you?"

Stiles scowled but conceded the point, finally digging his phone out of his pocket as he hopped out of the jeep. He quickly scanned through all the messages and then updated everyone with their current location. "It looks like Scott and Cora are just getting to the bank, Scott says that they'll do a quick scan from the outside and then head in. No sign of Boyd or Isaac on Allison's front."

"Yes Stiles, I'm in the group chat as well, I see all the same messages as you."

"I let them know our location," he continued, ignoring the comment. "Do you really see signs of Derek around here?"

Peter hesitated, looking around once more. "Not really but this is the closest building that isn't actually in use so it's the best place to start looking. It shouldn't take me long to ascertain whether or not if he's actually in the building. Then we can widen our scope a bit before coming back to the jeep and driving to the next block."

*Later*

Stiles followed Peter into another building, looking around hopefully for any sign of Derek. He didn't see anything that jumped out at him but Peter had seemed eager to go inside that time. And after the previous four buildings, Stiles was taking that as a good sign. "So, what exactly caught your attention with this one?"

"Shh."

"You said that the building was empty… well, likely empty, meaning you didn't hear a large number of people milling about in here like that first warehouse. Like was there a blood trail or something?"

Peter sighed loudly, he should've tied the kid to the steering wheel… he could get things done a lot faster without him asking all kinds of questions and distracting him. It had been like that all day! He'd already suggested that Stiles should meet up with Allison, now that he was in the area, he could scout for Derek alone, he didn't really need help. Stiles obviously hadn't gone for it, committed to finding Derek. So Peter was stuck listening to his incessant talking and fidgeting. "Not a trail exactly, there was some blood on the door though, which Derek would've had to touch to get inside. And there are footprints in here. All good signs for us, I think we finally got lucky."

Stiles looked at ground, quickly spotting the disturbances on the dusty floor. "You're right, someone has been through here fairly recently."

"And that someone was bleeding. So the odds are good that it was Derek."

Stiles shrugged his shoulders, "Or the biggest coincidence ever. Maybe it's from a homeless person."

"Let's _try_ to be optimistic and assume it's Derek. I know that isn't exactly easy for you, but just this once, try. Or you can go wait in the jeep."

"But… you don't hear any signs of him now do you? So either he's not here or he's dead…"

"I don't know," Peter snapped, "You've been talking!" Honestly, didn't Stiles know that he was distracting? How could he be expected to try and pinpoint Derek's heartbeat when Stiles was asking questions? Although, if Derek was in the building, there was a good chance that he'd also hear Stiles and would've called out to them… if he was still conscious. "He's not dead either, I would've said something if I felt our bond disappear, and Cora would've too."

"I wasn't talking that loudly…" he pouted, shoving his hands into his pockets. Scott never complained… he just had a hard time staying quiet when he was stressed out. He really wanted to find Derek and make sure he was safe, and help Scott heal. And there was also Isaac and Boyd to worry about- what if they found the twins while all of them were out looking for Derek?! Stiles shook his head and took a few deep breaths, realizing that he was getting worked up again. Something else that would cause Peter to scold him… "Whatever, go ahead and listen, I'll be quiet."

Peter slowly walked further into the building, following the visible tracks on the floor. It took a moment to block out Stiles's heart and shuffling footsteps but after he did, the warehouse was silent. Since he knew Derek wasn't dead yet, it meant that he wasn't in the building; not what he'd been hoping for but it wasn't a complete dead end. "He's not here but we'll follow the footsteps to see which door he left through and try to follow him to the next building."

"So does that mean I can speak now?"

"Don't sulk, it's unbec-"

Stiles flinched as Peter suddenly dropped to his knees, hands clamped over his ears as he grunted in pain. "Peter? What's wrong?" He spun around to check their surroundings, wondering what he was missing. Clearly there was something his human senses weren't picking up on… how much danger were they in? And could he keep them safe on his own?

Peter's head felt like it was about to explode, the high pitched sound was overpowering. He couldn't focus even though part of him knew that he needed to find an exit. But it was coming from everywhere- there was nowhere to turn! The sound was so overwhelming, he wasn't even aware that Stiles was trying to drag him through the building… all he knew was that he wanted it to stop! No other sensation mattered at the moment.

"Peter! C'mon, you gotta help me!" Stiles shouted as he tried to haul him to his feet. Had Deucalion followed them? It seemed unlikely, Deucalion didn't seem like the type to resort to tricks; he was powerful and knew it. But if it wasn't Deucalion… who was it? As soon as he thought of the question, he knew the answer- Peter was covering his ears meaning that there was a sound that was bothering him… a sound that Stiles clearly couldn't hear. It had to be hunters! "Oh no, that's not good," he mumbled to himself as he realized what was going on. He looked around again, wondering where they could possible hide. There were a few rooms with doors; it wasn't much but it was better than nothing. So Stiles gripped Peter's shirt and started pulling him along, stumbling under the dead weight- he was heavier than he looked! Not that it mattered, they'd only gone a few feet when they were suddenly surrounded by a group of men, all of them with guns drawn. Stiles almost dropped Peter in surprise as they all started yelling commands at him.

"Don't move! We've got wolfsbane bullets so don't try anything."  
"Freeze!"  
"Get your hands up!"

Stiles wasn't exactly eager or able to comply with the last one but he did stop in his tracks, although that was mostly out of shock and fear than wanting to obey them. As they continued to wave their guns around, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind, praying that they'd listen, "I'm a human! Don't shoot!" If they weren't totally despicable, they should follow the same basic code as the Argents, right? He didn't have long to think about it though before the men were all yelling at him again. He wasn't sure what to do so he just continued to stand there, trying his hardest to keep Peter on his feet.

Finally one of the men held up a hand and silenced the others, most likely the one in command. "Hand over your cellphone and wallet, now."

"But-"

"We don't want to hurt you but we will, just toss them over."

Stiles swallowed, sensing that the guy meant it. Maybe they wouldn't shoot him but they would use some kind of force to make him comply… he didn't want any broken bones and a broken phone so he figured he'd obey for the moment. "Gosh you're heavy Peter," he mumbled to himself as he struggled to reach into his pocket with one hand and stay upright.

"Just let him go, the floor won't hurt him. Besides, we're going to want his phone and wallet as well so you'll have to put him down to search his pockets."

"Fine, fine…" He lowered Peter to the floor, grimacing as the werewolf curled up in pain. "Can we stop whatever it is that's hurting him?"

"Not until we have your things, the sooner that happens, the sooner we can move to the next step."

Stiles glared at the guy but finally reached into his pockets and took out what they wanted, carefully tossing them over at the man's feet. Then he crouched down and quickly searched Peter's pockets, tossing over his phone and wallet as well. "There. Now would probably be a good time to tell you that my dad is there sheriff here in Beacon Hills so I'd think twice before-"

"Be quiet," the guy ordered as he bent down to pick up the confiscated items.

"No, seriously, you can confirm it- you have my id. Stilinski, that's my last name!" Stiles argued. If they weren't deterred by the fact that he was human, maybe they'd at least balk at the fact that he was at least semi-important. Only fools would kill the sheriff's son and hunters usually like the fly under the radar whenever possible. "Honestly, we can just chalk this all up to a misunderstanding. We'll get back in the car and leave, no one's been hurt yet, we can still just walk away."

"You sure like to talk kid," was the only response he got.

There was a moment of silence as the guy looked through their wallets but then he nodded to the others and they all reached into their pockets. Stiles tensed up but they didn't pull anything out… but beside him Peter finally gasped and sat up.

"Finally! You could've just shot me and put me out of my misery!"

"That's still an option if you don't come along quietly."

Peter rolled his eyes. If they were serious about hurting them then they would've already shot him and tied Stiles up. Most hunters didn't waste time when they had a werewolf in a vulnerable position. Not that he was going to charge at them recklessly, he could tell that they weren't afraid to fire their weapons; they just weren't trigger-happy like some others he'd come across in the past.

"Both of you just keep your hands up and walk into that room over there," the leader commanded, pointing to the doorway with his weapon.

The two of them slowly did as they were instructed, Peter noting that the group seemed to be pretty experienced. They kept their distance, had their guns ready, and stayed spaced out from each other as well. Since they were outnumbered, he didn't even think about attacking and he prayed that Stiles was smart enough to do the same. As soon as they were in the room, they swung the metal door shut and he heard a loud clunk as they locked it. The room was small and there were no windows but honestly, it was better than being chained up and electrocuted.

*Later*

Peter sat against the wall and watched as Stiles paced around the small room. Occasionally he'd charge the door and pound on it, yelling at their captors to let them go. Didn't he realize he was just wasting his energy? They weren't going to open the door just because Stiles was telling them to. If anything, his continued ranting would just get him tied up with a rag stuffed in his mouth; Peter half hoped that was what they'd do. "Stiles, you need to stop."

"At least I'm doing something! You're just sitting there!"

"I've been kidnapped more times than you Stiles, I think I know what I'm doing. I'm conserving my energy, surely you've heard of that tactic? The door is reinforced. Could I force it open? Yea, but not quietly; it only took them a second to react when you tried to force the door open the first time. And since they have those sonic emitters, I'm pretty much defenseless when they decide to turn them on. So let's not anger them unnecessarily, I'm the one that has to deal with the consequences, not you."

Stiles leaned his head against the metal door, feeling defeated. Peter was right of course, he was wasting energy. They needed to come up with a plan for escape. Their best chance would have to be when the hunters came in for them. But of course that was also extremely risky, they'd be prepared for an attack. And with the sonic emitters, they could render Peter useless at any time. "I guess I'll have to lead the attack," he said aloud as he struggled to think of how to get the upper hand.

"Stiles, just because you're human doesn't mean they'll let you just attack them. They think you're an 'enemy' because you're with a werewolf so that means they'll have to deal with you one way or another. I'm sure they have plenty of non-lethal methods to keep a string bean teenager under control. Can you even take a hit?"

"Yes!"

"That's not what I heard. You got taken out by Gerard, an old geezer."

"Who told you that?! You weren't there."

"No but Boyd was; he's mentioned it a few times."

Stiles scowled, trying to hide his embarrassment, "Of course he tells you guys about that- I bet he didn't mention the fact that I at least tried to save them before Gerard came down to the basement."

"No, he mentioned that too. None of that matters though, we need to focus on coming up with a plan. Preferably one that doesn't involve the emitters getting turned on… or wolfsbane bullets. I don't feel like dealing with wolfsbane today."

"Well like I was saying, I should be at the forefront because at the very least, they shouldn't shoot me. The sonic stuff doesn't work on me at all either… so all that leaves are the shock batons and I doubt they'll use those on me since they are set at such a high level."

"Don't be so sure. Hunters are conniving, they have to be in order to kill us. Look at the lengths Victoria went through to try and kill Scott. They know they have a human in here, they might've turned one of them down to non-lethal levels to use on you. Or, again, they are just more experienced fighters than you, one good hit and you're going down. And we're outnumbered, there's no way you can dodge them all Stiles."

Peter sure didn't know how to mince his words… but he was right of course, there was no way he could expect to get past them without Peter's help. And Peter wasn't going to do anything to risk his life, which was reasonable. Although he wasn't all too certain that all hunters would be so callous to harm a human teenager like Victoria and Gerard had been… wait… "How did you know about Victoria? You were still… dead… at that point."

Peter squinted his eyes, Stiles was supposed to be pretty smart wasn't he? That was the whole reason he had decided that Stiles wouldn't be the worst choice in partners. Apparently he'd been wrong about that. "Derek filled me in on everything after I came back. We do talk you know. And it was important information that I needed to know if I was going to help out. Plus it wasn't like I'd miss the fact that Victoria was just gone and that Allison was our enemy."

"Right, obviously." Slowly, Stiles backed away from the door and sat on the floor, willing himself to calm down. There was no way he could realistically do anything against the hunters, he wasn't that great of a fighter- especially with no weapon of his own. But it didn't mean he wouldn't try! That was what Peter didn't understand. They might not like each other, and Peter might not want to do anything unnecessary but Stiles didn't know how to _not_ try. If anyone came into the room, he was going to try. Especially for Peter's sake, since they had the tools to serious hurt him, it would be up to him to create an opening. But he did need to remember that they might be willing to kill him. Gerard hadn't been afraid to hurt him but Stiles never felt like his life was in danger, he knew that the old Argent was just trying to prove a point to everyone. These guys though, they were strangers, probably not even from the area, so why would they care about his life? A lot of crimes went unsolved, and if they knew how to cover their tracks and then left town? It wouldn't be hard for them to get away with it. His hands started to shake as he realized how scared he was; he wished Peter hadn't said anything. If he was still mad and pounding on the door, he wouldn't be scared.

"Calm down Stiles. We've just have to wait it out. We aren't alone, we have the others."

"But I forgot to update our most recent location to the group chat. You seemed eager to actually go into this one so I put my phone back in my pocket without pinging our location! And I'm sure they've already destroyed our phones so they can't be tracked. Oh gosh… Dad's going to kill me… that's like the third phone this year…"

"Only the third?" Peter was honestly surprised but he also wanted to jump on the distraction. Stiles was starting to panic and he really didn't want to be stuck in here with him if he had a panic attack.

Stiles glared, resisting the urge to curse at him. He was usually very responsible when it came to his technology, but that was because he knew he needed to be reachable, just in case something ever happened to his dad. "Yes that's only the third phone I've had this year. And the only reason I've gone through so many is because of all these supernatural shenanigans! Whatever, let's talk about something worthwhile, like what our plan is. We have no idea how long it might take the others to even realize we're in trouble, not to mention how long it might take them to find us. Ugh, I don't even know how Scott is holding up… if he takes a turn for the worse, there's basically no chance we'll be found and I won't be there to help him!"

"He shouldn't, Derek isn't dead," Peter assured him, "Scott would only take a bad turn if they came across his body." Just a second ago, the kid was worried about what the hunters were going to do to him and now he's concerned about Scott again. What a surprise. But at least he was focusing and not letting the fear take over. "Judging by the way Scott was posting updates in the chat, I doubt it will take long for him to get concerned that he hasn't heard from you. I'm more concerned that Cora will go off on her own to keep looking for Derek and get herself into trouble while he tries to find you. I know she doesn't care about me enough to come and look for me; she'll prioritize Derek."

"Wow dude… your family is harsh. Although, I guess I'm not all that surprised, she is Derek's sister after all," Stiles admitted with a shrug. Some days Stiles thought that she might be okay with him but then the next she'd act like she barely tolerated him so he really wasn't sure where he stood with her. But at the very least he knew that he was below Derek on her list of priorities so he was also certain that she wouldn't drop everything to come save him. Scott would though, but only if he was healed enough to move on his own. But of course Scott would run into the same issues as Peter… he was a werewolf so he was just as vulnerable. His mind started to race through the negative possibilities of how the situation might end.

"Stiles, you're starting to panic again," Peter called out. Pointing it out probably wasn't helpful but he was hoping it would snap him out of it.

"How can I not? I mean, the others don't know our location and while it seems easy enough to just come here and look for the jeep, what if these guys move us to a different location? How is Scott supposed to find us then?! Or what if they just kill us before anyone comes?"

Peter narrowed his eyes, "Then you go down fighting and leave as many clues behind as you can. But it doesn't really help to think about dying, that's admitting defeat so cut it out. As to the other point, if they do move us, Scott would find you, your dad would turn the whole city upside down to find you. We'll cross that bridge if we even get to it."

There was a moment of silence as Stiles tried to control his thoughts. He needed to work on a plan, not worrisome what-ifs. The only concrete idea he had was to wait for Scott to show up. They'd have to listen for the commotion and try to time their escape to match. There was no other way, otherwise the hunters would incapacitate Peter if they realized they were trying to open the door. But Scott was injured, Derek was dying… Isaac and Boyd were missing… could Scott do it on his own? Stiles shook his head, Scott wouldn't be dumb enough to try it on his own. Even without the other werewolves, he had Allison and her father. He jerked his head up, a new thought coming to mind, "Peter, do you think Chris knows these guys?"

"Like, he's taking after his father and betraying us after he said that he was going to stay out of things? The thought has crossed my mind…"

"No, I just meant in general. Like if Chris showed up, would they listen to him?"

Peter lifted one shoulder in a half shrug, "No idea. I doubt it. Word travels fast in the supernatural world so a lot of hunters would know that Chris has decided to 'retire' after what happened with the rest of his family. I doubt these guys would care about his 'legacy' enough to let us go just because he asked."

Darn… he'd been hoping there was a chance it could all end peacefully. Well, it was back to the drawing board. "Have you heard them say _anything_ about what they're going to do with us?" he asked, completely changing topics.

"No, because you haven't stopped talking."

"Right, sorry." Stiles started to chew on his nails and bounce his legs as he let Peter concentrate. The silence only lasted a few seconds as his brain got the better of him. "What if this whole thing is just a trap for Scott or Derek? You said earlier that hunters are conniving so what if they've been following us this whole time without us realizing it?! We don't have time for a third enemy right now!"

Peter massaged his temples, letting the teenager ramble on, not even listening to him. He waited until it sounded like Stiles was finally running out of breath and interrupted, "Are you done?" When it was silent for a minute, he opened his eyes and saw Stiles with his hands clenched in his hair… he really wasn't handling the situation all that well. "Just breathe, I don't want you having a panic attack in here. I refuse to deal with Scott if you die and he blames me."

The silence lasted a few minutes that time, as long as Stiles could absolutely stand it. "Please tell me that you heard something useful out there… I need information."

"Actually they're playing a radio to cover up their own conversation. I didn't say anything because I figured it would get you all worked up again. And there you go…" Peter sighed as Stiles jumped to his feet and started pounding on the door again. Minutes went by and he was just about to yell at Stiles again to stop it when he heard the radio turn off. "Someone's coming…" He could hear multiple footsteps and he frowned as he realized there were only a few men. Probably not a good sign, it meant the others would be waiting further in the building as backup.

Stiles stepped back from the door and glanced around the room for a weapon, even though he knew there was nothing. But he wasn't going to hide behind Peter for protection, no way! So he put his fists up awkwardly, praying he'd be able to land at least one punch before they took him out.

"Stiles? Peter? Are you guys okay?"

Stiles turned to gape at Peter, who looked just as surprised to hear Scott's voice. What was he doing there? "How did you find us? What about the hunters?" he asked, moving to tug at the door again. "It sure is good to hear your voice, I wasn't sure if you'd be able to find us before they moved us."

"Hunters?"

"Dude yea, did you not have to take them out?" Stiles turned towards Peter, wondering if he'd missed the sounds of a fight. Surely his voice and the radio wouldn't have drowned out signs of gunshots. "None of you got shot right, they had wolfsbane bullets!"

Scott was quick to reassure him, "No, no one is here besides you two. The building's empty. Chris and Allison are scouting the area to make sure no one sneaks up on us but we did recon before just storming in here. We thought for sure it was a trap… that's why I haven't tried opening the door yet, in case it's rigged or something. Otherwise it all seems way too easy."

"Um no, no trap, it's just locked." He stepped back from the door and let Scott know it was clear.

There was a loud crack as Scott broke the lock on the door and pushed it open, quickly spotting Stiles and running over to check on him, "Are you alright? Are you sure it was hunters? It has nothing to do with Deucalion? Or the darach?"

Stiles was checking Scott over just as frantically, needing to make sure his wound was still healing, "They had sonic emitters and wolfsbane bullets, they're hunters, no question about it. They might be here hunting Deucalion but they didn't attack us on his orders or anything, you know Deucalion would never work with them. Are you alright?"

Scott nodded, "Yea, yea, I'm fine."

"What about Derek?" Peter finally asked, done with their little reunion. Derek was the one in bigger trouble, they shouldn't have stopped the search just to check on Stiles.

"Derek's fine," the Alpha announced, walking into the room. He'd been waiting just outside, not wanting to rush into the room, just in case there was a trap Stiles didn't know about. But he was convinced that the hunters were really gone and that Deucalion wasn't around.

Peter frowned as he looked Derek over, something was different about him but he couldn't exactly say what. The important thing was that he appeared to be completely healed. "Where were you? How did they find you?"

"He found us actually," Scott admitted. "Cora and I had just left the bank and were heading back to the car when he just… appeared. Asked us what we were doing there and why we had your car. I think he was surprised that we were looking for him."

Derek rolled his eyes and changed the topic, "What happened to you two?" He didn't want to admit that he'd gone to the teacher's place. Honestly Derek wasn't even sure why he thought to go there but something told him that he'd be safe with her.

"Yea, how did they manage to trap you Uncle Peter?" Cora sneered, poking her head into the room. There was no way she was going to miss a chance at rubbing it in his face, not after his earlier comment.

He could've swore but he just shrugged instead, keeping his anger in check. "Sonic emitters, they waited until we were well into the building and then sounded them off from all sides. There wasn't really anywhere to run to escape the sound. After that, they came in and held us at gunpoint, making sure we knew they had wolfsbane bullets. It would've been foolish to try and rush them so we were biding our time."

"Right, sure, 'biding your time,' gotcha." She just shook her head and walked away. He could tease her all he wanted but he wasn't infallible either. She didn't care, all she wanted was to get back at Deucalion for kidnapping her, and now that they had Derek again, they could get to work.

"So what exactly happened?" Scott asked, "How did they trap you?"

Stiles shrugged, "Basically like Peter said. We found a small blood trail so we entered the building but didn't find any signs of life. Before we could find out where the trail led, Peter dropped to his knees, covering his ears. I'm not sure if they knew one of us was a werewolf or if they were just being cautious, I didn't really get the chance to ask. I had no idea what was going on at the time, just that Peter was in pain and I was trying to find a place to hide while also trying to carry him. Next thing I know, we're surrounded and they tell me to toss over phones and wallets. Then they herded us into this room. I tried opening the door but they turned the sound back on, I guess so Peter wouldn't be able to use his strength to break the lock… Eventually they turned it off, when they were sure we weren't going to try and escape… and so we've been sitting here, waiting to see what they'd do with us."

"Between the radio and Stiles's incessant chatter, I couldn't pick up much. I'm just thankful they didn't decide to keep the emitters on just because Stiles wouldn't stop pounding on the door." Peter was still a little salty about just how long it took Stiles to stop trying to escape. They hadn't turned off the emitters until after he'd moved away from the door. Thankfully they didn't use it each time he pounded on the door and yelled at them or else Peter might've had to sit on Stiles. "So, how did you get past them, were they really gone?"

Scott nodded, "Yea, the only heartbeats in the building were you two, no signs of anyone within 100 yards of the building. As like I said, Allison and her dad are outside, keeping us updated, they haven't seen anyone."

Stiles blinked in surprise, "Wait, so we were all alone in the building? They just left?"

"Looks that way yea."

"Dude, you could've busted us out of here awhile ago!" Stiles groaned.

"And how was I supposed to know that they were gone? You wouldn't stop talking!"

Derek shook his head as the two of them continued to yell at each other over whose fault it was. He turned and headed for the exit, he still needed to go find Boyd and Isaac before they got into trouble.

"Stiles, how are you trying to blame me?! You were the one banging on the door and making such a ruckus that I couldn't hear a darn thing! What was I supposed to do? As far as you were concerned, there were men with guns and shock batons on the other side of the door, just like me!"

"But you're supposed to have awesome hearing! I'm surprised you don't know how to tune me out by now. Scott can tune me out when he needs to listen to something important."

Scott quickly grabbed Stiles and started pulling him out of the building as Peter's fists started to clench. Honestly, he wasn't sure how they had survived an hour together locked in the same room. It was probably a good thing they'd found them when they had, otherwise Stiles might've been attacked. And it was lucky for everyone involved that the hunters were honest and not corrupt like Gerard. They'd used Stiles's cellphone to text out their location and a simple message about a misunderstanding. They could've let Stiles and Peter out but… they could've also treated them a lot worse so Scott counted it as a win. Now all they had to do was find Isaac and Boyd before they found the twins!


End file.
